New Zealand teens' digital profile: A factsheet - Netsafe
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Recent examples include the Broadcasting
New Zealand teens’ Standards Authority and NZ on Air’s (2015)
children’s media use study. On the other hand,
digital profile: the effects of media representations of sexual
violence on teens was the focus of a study by
A factsheet the Office of Film and Literature Classification
(2017).
PREPARED BY DR. EDGAR PACHECO AND
In 2017, a Victoria University study explored
NEIL MELHUISH
the impact of new technologies on the
education and learning experiences of
What is this about? children (Lips et al., 2017), while another study
The purpose of this factsheet is to present (Hartnett, 2017) focused on the differences in
findings regarding New Zealand teens’ use, digital access and use based on the socio-
and attitudes towards, digital technologies and economic background of older teenagers.
online safety. These findings are part of a
larger quantitative study about experiences of Netsafe and the Ministry for Women have also
risks and harm online. The study is led by investigated aspects of this subject. The
Netsafe in partnership with the Ministry for Insights into Digital Harm report (2017) is the
Women. first qualitative study on teens’ perceptions
and experiences of digital harm from a gender
The factsheet provides government agencies perspective. A second report entitled Teens
with evidence-based insights that can inform and “Sexting” in New Zealand (2017) presents
policy development and identify ways to help findings from the first quantitative study on the
young New Zealanders manage their digital prevalence of the sharing of nude content
lives. among teens.
What we know so far This factsheet adds to the emerging body of
knowledge about young people’s interaction
There is a growing body of knowledge, among
with digital technologies. While relevant data
government agencies and academia, about
about adult New Zealanders’ use and access
the way young New Zealanders, teens and
to digital technologies have been periodically
children, interact with digital technologies,
collected through Auckland University of
including the opportunities as well as
Technology’s World Internet Project NZ (Smith,
challenges and potential risks they afford.
1 | New Zealand teens' digital profile: A factsheet
Bell, Miller, & Crothers, 2016) and the
Household Use of Information and actions only affect their learning and
Communication Technology survey (Statistics study, they will find their way around
restrictions, that protective actions are
New Zealand, 2013), little is known about teens
annoying/upsetting, and that they limit
their freedom and privacy.
Summary of findings and their engagement with their digital
environment as well as their attitudes towards
• A third of New Zealand teens (33%) online safety.
spend 4 or more hours online in an
average day. What we did
• 4 in 10 currently use 5 or more social Data for this study was collected through a
media platforms. nationally representative survey conducted in
• 1 in 4 would be devastated if they had the third term of the 2017 school year. A total
no access to digital technologies for a of 1,001 young New Zealanders, aged
month. between 14 and 17, responded to the 15-
minute questionnaire. Demographic
• Nearly 8 in 10 agree “there are a lot of
information included age, gender, ethnicity,
things on the internet that are good for
people my age”. disability, and the region they lived in.
• There are gender differences in teens’ Netsafe, with feedback from the Ministry for
use of digital devices, the activities Women, planned and designed the research
they carry out online, and their instrument. Data collection and initial analysis
preferences for specific social media was carried out by Colmar Brunton. Strict
platforms.
procedures were followed to ensure the
• Teens regard themselves as confident protection of participants’ privacy and
technology users. Over 4 in 10 rarely or confidentiality. The margin of error of this
never seek support regarding an online study is +/- 3.1% on total results.
or technical problem.
• However, Māori and Asian teens are What we found
less confident about their digital
competencies.
TEENS’ USE OF DIGITAL
• Overall, teens highly rate their TECHNOLOGIES
knowledge of online safety, but over 1
Digital technologies are an important part of
in 10 (13%) do not know much about it.
New Zealand teens’ everyday lives. While they
• However, teens with disabilities report use a range of digital devices to connect (e.g.,
lower levels of knowledge regarding desktop computer, game console or smart TV)
online safety. they report largely using smartphones and
• Just over half (56%) agree it is helpful laptop computers to go online. This finding
to set age restrictions and block access shows the preference of New Zealand teens
to content. for mobile digital tools.
• Nearly half (46%) consider that In terms of gender, there was not a significant
removing access to the internet or
statistical difference in the use of
digital devices is an unhelpful safety
measure. smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs.
However, males reported more often using
• Teens who believe that any protective desktop computers and game consoles to
measures are unhelpful say these
2 | New Zealand teens' digital profile: A factsheetconnect online, while females were more likely females (16%), while the use of Snapchat and
to use a laptop than males. Instagram were higher among females, 29%
and 15% respectively, compared to males (17%
We asked survey participants about the and 7%).
number of digital devices they typically use to
connect online. A majority (59%) of teens said Older teens, those aged 16 and 17 years, were
they use three or more devices, while the rest more likely than younger (14 and 15 years) to
(41%) connect online through one or two use Facebook, Messenger and Tumblr.
devices. There was, however, a significant
difference between genders. Males (65%) PERCEPTIONS OF THE INTERNET
were more likely to use three or more devices
than females (52%). We wanted to know participants’ views about
the internet. The survey included a
The average daily time spent online by a third psychometric question to measure their level
of teens (33%) is 4 or more hours, nearly 4 in of agreement with the following statement:
10 (38%) are online for between 2 and 4 hours, “There are a lot of things on the internet that
and 20% for 1 to 2 hours. The remaining are good for people my age”.
responses (9%) either spend 1 hour or less or
were unsure about how much time they were A large majority (79%) said they agree or
online for. strongly agree with the statement, while only
3% disagreed with it. Overall, male teens (81%)
We wanted to know the level of participants’ agreed slightly more with the statement than
affinity with digital technologies. Interestingly, females (76%). However, among 14-year-olds,
one in four (25%) responded they would be males (83%) were much more likely to agree
“devastated” if they could not use any digital than females (65%). Teens with a disability
technology for a month, 30% of respondents were less likely to agree with the statement
mentioned they would miss digital than those with no impairments (69% and 80%
technologies “quite a lot”, and 34% would feel respectively).
“annoyed but get used to it”.
TEENS’ ONLINE ACTIVITIES
SOCIAL MEDIA PREFERENCES
New Zealand teens typically go online for
Social media encompasses a range of digital entertainment (e.g., streaming videos or
tools, from social networking sites (e.g., playing games), socialising with others
Facebook) and video-sharing sites (e.g., (specifically friends and family), and learning
YouTube) to image messaging applications (related to school and other training). Other
(e.g., Snapchat). The findings confirm that New online activities included searching for
Zealand teens are highly engaged with a information about hobbies and interests,
range of these tools, with 4 in 10 currently shopping, and news.
using five or more social media tools. When
asked which they use most often, 25% said We found some differences in terms of
YouTube, followed by those mentioning gender. Males tended to do more
Facebook and Snapchat with 23% each, and entertainment activities online than females.
Messenger and Instagram (13% and 11%, Females were more likely to go online for
respectively). learning, shopping, finding out about local
activities or participating in cultural or political
In terms of gender, there were some activities.
noteworthy differences in the way teens
interact with some social media platforms. The most enjoyable online activities for
Males (33%) used YouTube more often than participants related to entertainment and
3 | New Zealand teens' digital profile: A factsheetsocialising. However, more males (61%) The survey included a question regarding
enjoyed entertainment activities than females online safety. We asked participants to rate
(27%). In contrast, more females (46%) their personal knowledge about keeping safe
reported enjoying socialising online than and secure online. For the purposes of the
males (29%). However, these activities are not study, this means knowing how to protect
necessarily exclusive as entertainment themselves and others from online risk or
activities such as online gaming can also harm. Nearly 3 in 10 participants (29%) said
involve social interaction. they know “a lot” about online safety, while
58% knew “a fair amount”. Those who said
TEENS’ CONTENT CREATION they knew “not that much” represented 13% of
total responses.
In terms of creating original online content,
participants’ main activities included sending In terms of gender, 32% of females reported to
texts/messages, commenting on other know “a lot” about online safety, compared to
people’s social media posts, and posting on 27% of males.
their own social media profiles. Other activities
A higher percentage of teens with disabilities
included sending email and sharing photos.
(21%) said they knew “not that much” about
Among all these content creation activities, keeping safe and secure online, compared to
New Zealand teens most enjoyed sending teens without impairments (11%). Also, teens
texts/messages to others (47%), reflecting the with disabilities (24%) were less likely to know
importance of socialising activities mentioned “a lot” about online safety than their peers
above. Other enjoyable activities were posting without impairments (30%).
on their social media profile(s) (15%),
Pacific (26%) and Māori teens (17%) reported
commenting on other people’s social media
knowing “not that much” about online safety,
posts (13%), and live streaming (12%).
in in contrast with other ethnic groups such as
A higher percentage of females (53%) enjoyed European/Pakeha (9%).
sending texts/messages to others, compared
None of the participants said they knew
to males (41%), while live streaming was more
“nothing at all” about online safety.
enjoyable for males (16%) than females (7%).
TEENS’ VIEWS ABOUT MEASURES TO
SELF-REPORTED DIGITAL
KEEP THEM SAFE ONLINE
COMPETENCY
We also asked teens to evaluate the
New Zealand teens are confident with using
helpfulness of different actions or measures
digital technologies. When asked how often
intended to keep them safe and secure online.
they ask for help or look for information to
solve an online or technical problem, over 4 in Over half considered it helpful to block or filter
10 participants (43%) responded that they access to websites and other online content
rarely or never seek support. (58%), and to set age restrictions for certain
services such as apps, online games and
However, in terms of ethnicity, Pacific and NZ
shopping (56%). This compares to 21% who
European/Pakeha teens were more confident
thought these actions were unhelpful (the rest
about their digital competencies (both groups
of the responses were either unsure or
with 46%), compared to Māori (39%) and Asian
neutral, i.e. neither helpful nor unhelpful).
teens (36%).
There was less agreement between the
KNOWLEDGE OF ONLINE SAFETY participants about other types of online safety
4 | New Zealand teens' digital profile: A factsheetactions. For example, less than half (45%) of online, their online activities, and their
participants said that adults monitoring what preferences for specific social media tools.
they do online (e.g., reviewing browsing
history), and setting time limits for using These findings are consistent with the results
devices or being online (40%) were helpful of the Insights into Digital Harm: The Online
protective measures. However, the
percentage of teens that considered these
actions unhelpful was higher in relation to In their own words
other online safety measures: 26% said
monitoring online activity was unhelpful, and • “Because teens know how to unblock,
31% thought the same in regard to setting time people make new accounts, setting
limits. time limits doesn't do anything, age
limits don't matter, teens still use things
As previously mentioned, New Zealand teens with an older age limit and monitoring
are highly engaged with a range of digital what we do online doesn't matter, it's
technologies. So, it was unsurprising to find called incognito tabs we know how to
that nearly half of respondents (46%) thought use them. It blocks recent search
taking away access to the internet or a digital history.”
device was unhelpful, while 29% considered it Female, 15, NZ European
helpful.
• “That would not help me understand
The survey included an open-ended question online safety any better."
asking those participants to comment on why Female, 16, Māori
they thought the protective actions were
• “Because you now use the internet
unhelpful (n=599). The main reasons given
every day at school to after school with
were that restrictions to the use of technology
homework and study.”
will affect their learning and study (11%), and
Female, 14, NZ European
that teens will find their way to go online
behind their parents’ backs anyway (11%). One • “By taking away access to the internet
in ten said protective actions are annoying or or a digital device, kids are more likely
upsetting (10%), and others considered they to do things online behind parents’
curbed their freedom (9%) and privacy (8%). backs. They'd feel they would need to
Examples of participants’ comments are hide it if something did happen online
provided – see “In their own words”. that was bad."
Female, 16, Another ethnicity
Concluding remarks
• “Misuse of the internet by others
In line with prior international research (Boyd, shouldn't mean I be penalised.”
2014; Lenhart, 2015), the findings confirm that Male, 16, NZ European
new technologies play an important part in the
everyday life of teens. Overall, New Zealand • “Because I am already responsible.”
teens consider that technological tools bring Male, 16, NZ European
several opportunities and benefits that affect
• “It just creates rebelliousness,
the way they socialise, study, and play, among
frustration and raises conflict and
other activities.
negativity.”
However, there are some differences that Male, 16, Asian
need a closer look. For instance, the study
reveals some gender differences in the
devices that male and female teens use to go
5 | New Zealand teens' digital profile: A factsheetZealand teens and their experiences of digital
• “Because I think it means they don’t harm and risks. The study is led by Netsafe in
trust me and think I’m still a little kid.” partnership with the Ministry for Women and
Female, 15 years, NZ European will be released in the second trimester of
2018.
• “I don't like having my rights taken
away.” Netsafe and the Ministry for Women have
Male, 15, Another ethnicity been collaborating since late 2016 and
developing research on the topic of online
Lives of New Zealand Girls and Boys, a safety and teens with a focus on gender
qualitative study developed last year by the differences. In addition to this factsheet and
Ministry for Women in partnership with the upcoming nationally representative study,
Netsafe. the partnership has already released up-to-
Similarly, while on average New Zealand teens date evidence-based contributions through
are confident users of technology, there are two reports: Insights into Digital Harm and
noteworthy differences regarding ethnicity. Teens and “Sexting” in New Zealand. In doing
The fact that Māori and Asian teens express so, Netsafe and the Ministry are positioning
less confidence in their digital competencies themselves at the forefront of New Zealand
suggests that there are issues around digital research on young people and online safety.
literacy still affecting a young generation of
New Zealanders - which could have References
implications for other issues such as the digital Boyd, D. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives
divide (Sylvester, Toland, & Parore, 2017) and of networked teens. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
online safety.
Broadcasting Standards Authority, & NZ On Air.
In general, the findings show that New (2015). Children’s Media Use Study.
Zealand teens perceive they have a Retrieved from
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challenges and risks. However, the findings research/childrens-media-use-study-2015/
reveal that teens with disabilities’ self-reported Hartnett, M. (2017). Differences in the digital home
knowledge of online safety is lower than teens lives of young people in New Zealand. British
without impairments. This raises concerns Journal of Educational Technology, 48(2),
642–652. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12430
about this specific group being the potential
target of malevolent online behaviours Kowalski, R. M., Morgan, C. A., Drake-Lavelle, K.,
(Kowalski, Morgan, Drake-Lavelle, & Allison, & Allison, B. (2016). Cyberbullying among
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https://tinyurl.com/y9vkwms9
The findings in this factsheet are part of a
larger representative study focusing on New Ministry for Women. (2017). Insights into digital
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and boys. Wellington, New Zealand.
Retrieved from
http://women.govt.nz/documents/insights-
digital-harm-online-lives-new-zealand-girls-
and-boys
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content/uploads/2017/12/SEXTING-NZ-
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NEW ZEALAND TEENS’ DIGITAL PROFILE: A FACTSHEET
Wellington, New Zealand, February 2018
www.netsafe.org.nz
research@netsafe.org.nz
Recommended citation: Netsafe. (2018). New Zealand teens’ digital profile: A Factsheet. Wellington, NZ:
Netsafe. Retrieved from: https://www.netsafe.org.nz/youth-factsheet-2018
ISBN: 978-0-473-42899-0
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